Angel Olsen Gives Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely” a Dreamy Twist for New Movie KAJILLIONAIRE

St. Louis, Missouri-based indie folk/rock singer-songwriter and musician, Angel Olsen, unveiled her latest cover of Bobby Vinton’s 1962 classic hit, “Mr. Lonely” that is featured in the trailer to a forthcoming comedy written and directed by Miranda July entitled, KAJILLIONAIREslated for release on September 18. Olsen also recently performed the title track to her forthcoming fifth full-length studio album “Whole New Mess,” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, this past Tuesday, July 28. Whole New Mess is slated for an August 28 release, via Jagjaguwar. To watch Olsen’s “Whole New Mess” The Tonight Show performance stream below, via YouTube.

As previously reported on Pitchfork, “KAJILLIONAIRE tells the story of con-artists Theresa (Debra Winger) and Robert (Richard Jenkins) and their daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), culminating in a ‘desperate, hastily conceived heist’ involving a stranger (Gina Rodriguez).”

Olsen has released four full-length studio albums: 2012’s Half Way Home, 2014’s Burn Your Fire for No Witness, 2016’s My Woman and last year’s All Mirrors. Olsen has released the lead single, which happens to be the title track, along with its accompanying music video. The latest musical offering from Olsen, as previously reported here on mxdwn, “‘Whole New Mess’ is a lot more stripped than her work on All Mirrors, as she is accompanied by only a single electric guitar and her melancholic voice throughout the song. The visual sees Olsen singing in front of a dark forest, capturing the isolation she expresses in the song.”

Olsen’s “Mr. Lonely” cover, roughly at the 1 minute and 16 seconds mark of the trailer, features a slow dreamy melody that is hauntingly beautiful. The production is lush, yet minimal, putting the emphasis on Olsen’s angelic, but dreary vocal delivery over the top. It is the type of cover that comes into its own, the plucky piano strings that gave the original a somewhat upbeat tempo to a melancholic tune, is turned on its head ramping up the melodrama. The new aesthetic to Olsen’s cover also adds emotional depth to the trailer for KAJILLIONAIRE.

To listen to Angel Olsen’s “Mr. Lonely” cover featured in the trailer for KAJILLIONAIRE, stream below via YouTube.

Photo credit: Owen Ela

Peter Mann: Peter Mann, II is an entertainment news writer with an affinity for music and cinema. In 2008, Mann got his proper introduction to writing when he first attended California State University of Long Beach writing for the Diversions section of the newspaper The Daily 49er. In a span of a little over 10 years, Mann has written for local Long Beach newspaper The Beachcomber, Examiner.com, and Dot 429. In 2015, Mann along with high school friends started a podcast/YouTube channel, LiveWire Film Reviews. When he’s not writing, he enjoys life with his wife and two young kids.
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